Associations of freestall design and cleanliness with cow lying behavior, hygiene, lameness, and risk of high somatic cell count.

The objective of this study was to investigate associations of freestall design and cleanliness with cow lying behavior, hygiene, lameness, and risk of new high somatic cell count (SCC). Cows from 18 commercial freestall dairy herds (22 ± 15 cows/farm; mean ± SD) in Ontario, Canada, were enrolled in a longitudinal study. Four hundred focal cows that were <120 d in milk, had no mastitis treatment in the last 3 mo, and had an SCC <100,000 cells/mL at their most recent milk test were selected for the study.

Validation of Contact Mats to Monitor Dairy Cow Contact with Stall Partitions.

In indoor housing systems, repetitive contact with the stall partitions may reflect issues between the housing environment and the cow, by reducing the quality of rest and hindering ease of movement. The objective of this study was to validate the ability of a contact mat (CM) system to monitor cow contact with stall dividers and neck rail when compared to video observation. Eleven lactating cows were monitored using video recording and with the CM system for 4 h/d for 4 consecutive days.

Technical note: Validation of an ear-tag accelerometer to identify feeding and activity behaviors of tiestall-housed dairy cattle.

The objective of this study was to validate the CowManager SensOor ear-tag accelerometer (Agis Automatisering BV, Harmelen, the Netherlands) against visual observations of feeding, rumination, resting, and active behaviors of tiestall-housed dairy cows. Prior validation of the sensor has been published for freestall and grazing dairy herds. However, the behavioral differences that exist among these and a tiestall system necessitate additional validation.

Comparison of physical and behavioral traits between dairy cows with low and high somatic cell count.

The objective of this study was to examine associations of locomotion score, hygiene, body condition score (BCS), lying behavior, and milk production with dairy cow somatic cell count (SCC; low or high). Cows from 14 commercial free-stall dairy herds in Ontario, Canada were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Each farm was visited for a total of 3 observation periods (at 5-wk intervals) on 2 occasions per period (7 d apart) until 3 Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) milk tests had been completed.